I seem to have had no time at all to do anything these last couple of weeks, including the things I should have done. There are bags and occasional boxes still strewn over the floor in this place and to be honest I completely lack the motivation to get it sorted out. Partly that's tiredness and lack of time but it also comes from a sense of not feeling that we belong here. Why invest lots of effort in something so short term? Having said that we still haven't exchanged on the Montagu Square flat, though there's only one minor piece of paper pending; who knows, we might be renting permanently! What a nightmare.

Congratulations to Sabine on the birth of baby Oliver on the 14th. I met him yesterday for the first time and he looks amazing. He's slim and long and pretty and very healthy-skinned. Gorgeous baby. And congratulations also to Madeleine and Erick for news of her pregnancy. We visited Rosie & Simon with their new baby Charlotte a couple of weekends ago for the first time, and aside from the fact that Roj cut his head open and I spent most of the time trying to contain the exuberance of Miles & Jody (with help, luckily), it was lovely to see them and very good to hear that Charlotte's first few weeks of adversity in the NICU are behind her.

We went to Shropshire for a long weekend last Friday night. Had a lovely time which included too much Pimms (easily done on hot summer days), fantastic barbeques, running barefoot up the hill (that was me after the Pimms), paddling in streams, bouncing in a brand new bouncy castle (the kids at Nanna's house) and sliding bare-tummied down a waterslide (ditto). Lots of fun and quite relaxing, though I felt twice as exhausted on our return.

Miles has been sleeping quite badly in the heatwave (as have I) and there are still signs that the teething pain isn't over. He hasn't slept through the night for quite a while now though he usually wakes only once. His latest trick is to scream blue murder when put down to sleep at 7:30, to the extent that we've had to bring him downstairs with us until our own bedtime. I can't tell you the sinking feeling I get when that happens. Those meagre child-free hours are very valuable.

He's still not walking, our little man, despite the fact that 10-month-old Cosima is. He's not talking either, despite Roj's best efforts to encourage him to say Mama. His cognitive skills are definitely increasing though. He'll follow rudimentary instructions and appears to understand what you say to him. Quite some time ago he came off mashed food and will now eat small chunks very well, which is not surprising since he has 16 of his final 20 baby teeth. He's a very hungry kid but can crawl at the speed of light and gets quite active in the right environment, so he doesn't retain too much excess weight.

It's Jody's last day at nursery summer school today, which is an intimidating prospect. Like last year I'm quite concerned about the prospect of having them both home 7 full days a week. Unlike last year she has now completely shed her afternoon naps (I might concede one per week, which just means she goes to sleep at night much later), so I'm faced with 7 weeks of 12-hour days with both the kids. I don't mind the time with the kids at all, but the prospect of not being able to do anything else is a bit worrying. My parents have kindly offered to take Jody on for a few days in the middle of the holidays, and we're off to Monaco and Sardinia for 10 days at the end of it, but I may have to resort to babysitters if I get desparate.

I've had a bit of a nightmare with eBay recently. Having succumbed some weeks ago to the designer jean urge, I decided to cleverly buy two cheap (but new) pairs on eBay, of the same make and size. After Yi Shun kindly acted as my shipping partner from the US, I excitedly received the jeans only to find that one is too tight and too short and the other is a style which doesn't suit me at all. So much for relying on the consistency of posh brands. When I get round to it I'll be sticking them back on eBay UK in order to recoup some of the ridiculous money I ended up spending on them. Along with all the other junk that's lurking in boxes for exactly that reason.

My fourth French assessment (and final one, before the end of course exam in September) is due in on Wednesday. I just about managed to finish the coursework required yesterday so I'm now hellbent on recording 3.5 minutes of passable French. Off to an Indian wedding though tomorrow (around 700 guests) where I don't expect to be doing much French speaking. Should be quite an experience though - am looking forward to it.

Things still seem to be on top of me, but for the first time since we moved in I did some general cleaning yesterday, which made the house look - and therefore me feel - much better. And while I'm still horribly behind on my French, I've spent a little bit of time on it each day this week so I'm at least feeling like I'm taking steps in the right direction.

The biggest difference was made by deciding to go to bed last night at 8pm. I got up at 7:20 this morning so you can see for yourself how long I slept. I did have to wake up 3 times during that to deal with Miles, but spent all the rest of the time asleep, to my surprise. Yesterday I was overcome by a fug of chronic exhaustion so this morning I feel like a new woman, albeit still a slightly tired one. I'm amazed at how much the stress and exhaustion of moving house has affected me. I've tried to handle it well but have constantly felt out of my depth with the amount I have to deal with and the resources I have at my disposal. I remember being very frustrated on our snowboarding holiday in February that I didn't have the capacity to deal with full days out on the slopes, given that my sleep was so disrupted, and the same thing seems to have occurred here: Having not had a single full night's sleep in the last 15 months is something that you just get used to (because you have to), but as soon as a little more is required of you, it becomes obvious just how much you are teetering on the brink.

Still, the amount of boxes is slowly diminishing and I'm gradually organising what remains to be done. We still need to decide whether or not to put up some of our pictures, or change the lighting, or do some of the other more permanent changes. And we still need to decide whether to fetch our second sofa and most importantly, what to do with the boxes full of stuff we no longer use, but once that is done I can start to feel like the place is ready; that we're finally settling in (in time to think about moving again).

I spent half of yesterday at Suzie's house intervening in the fights between Jody and Toby. To date they seemed to get on well but in his domain all hell breaks loose. I saw a side of Jody I've rarely seen and certainly don't want to encourage, and Suzie insists the same of Toby. We're both aiming to create a regular playdate boot camp to force them to appease their mutual animosity, which is perhaps a selfish goal on our parts but one which will be amusing at the very least. It was very nice to get away from the house (and ubiquitous boxes) and not think about cleaning/unpacking/doing French/just how far behind I am.

Afterwards I had Kate and Ava round here for a relaxing catch up. Lovely to see Kate (with envy-inducing Monegasque tan) but I was already at a very low ebb: thumping headache and yawning every minute. I hope I didn't come across as too much of a zombie but she is, at least, of typical Australian low-maintenance ilk.

I've neglected to keep up with my recent star-spotting incidences. Roj saw Dame Judy Dench outside our flat on the day we moved house. Prior to that I walked past Keira Knightley wrapped in some fella's arms (and looking prettier, in my view, than her pouty chin-jutting press photos portray). I also recently got eye-contact with Peter Andre on Harley Street who I believe was with Katie Price (the 6-person entourage would seem to indicate it), but I can't be sure since I only saw her from behind (fewer recognisable features).

I also neglected to write a special mention for my better half last Sunday on his birthday, though I hope I made up for it at the time. We did some extraordinarily special things like going to the zoo and eating lots of cake. Jody was very excited by the whole affair, particularly by unwrapping all his cards and presents. It seems a shame not to let her live it for him, though I'm not sure he felt that way about it!

After some unpredictable spanners in the works, and a great deal of hard work by all, we're finally in. If I weren't completely surrounded by boxes I might be able to relax and appreciate it more. As it is I feel that 15 stolen minutes to update my blog are minutes better spent elsewhere, so I'll make this quick.

Thanks enormously to my parents for helping us move last Thursday. My mum did sterling babysitting work (and dusting, where applicable), and my dad did several thousand reps of the stairs without flinching. After the lift broke, that is. Which was after the first of six van loads. It was hot and exhausting and we finally only left the flat at 1:45pm (with a 2 o'clock deadline), but in the long run that didn't matter. I thought I'd be sad to leave the place, given that it holds such precious memories for me: It was our first marital home and the place in which I gave birth to my son. But I think 18 months of preparing to leave and 30 months of being squashed into a too-confined space had prepared me for departure and I was actually rather relieved to find myself in the new place on Thursday afternoon.

Lots of work remains: unpacking unpacking unpacking. I've reached those boxes of indeterminate contents which take an age to unpack. And there still remains a lot of loft contents which need to be taken to Shropshire or put into more permanent storage. But for now this place is liveable. Our new BT broadband package even started on the day of our move so had it not been for Netgear router issues, (and the fact that my parents were sleeping in the office), I would have been up and running from day one.

As it was I struggled to get connected in time for my French tutorial on Saturday morning, but discovered subsequently that the server had been down and the tutorial postponed a week. Which is a mixed blessing because I'm so far behind right now (and with another assessment pending) that I don't know if I'll have anything useful to offer.

As to the house. It is absolutely amazing to own a front door. We can step outside onto the street and put out our recycling bin or chat to the neigbours or just bask in the sunlight. I can watch as Jody rides her like-a-bike in the mews, with Morfar or Daddy in close pursuit (she's getting fast). We also have two little terraces at the back of the house, which allow Jody some safe outdoor playtime and me to hang out the washing. Roj is excited about barbeque prospects but I'm not sure if there are any restrictions on that score.

Upstairs is the perfect layout for us. A huge master bedroom with vast ensuite (housing monster bath) that creates a whole new playground for the kids. Adjoining the master bedroom is a brilliant dressing room which not only provides ample clothes storage space, but is spacious enough for Miles's cot, which means that last Thursday night, for the first time in nearly 15 months, we had our bedroom to ourselves (although not for long, as Miles got a little nervous at his new environment and joined us in the early hours). This is the room that leads out onto the larger of the two terraces.

Across the spacious landing is another small bathroom and next to that, Jody's little bedroom. Too small for much other than a kid's bedroom, it is perfect for her little realm, with a big window and yet more wardrobe space.

Downstairs isn't perfect, as mews houses often aren't. The main living space is mostly a corridor to the office, the stairs, or the kitchen. It is a little dingy too, since the window is net-curtained and at the short end of a fairly long and narrow room. The kitchen is better though; much bigger than our last and with bigger fridge/freezer and amazingly efficient washing machine. Once the extractor fan is replaced and (ideally) the hob, it will be pretty perfect.

And a whole separate room for all the computer gubbins which otherwise clutters up any house. I'm sitting here with the small French doors opening out onto the smaller of our terraces letting in a little breeze on this baking day. What a lovely room.

I'm chuffed to be able to experience mews living (we can't afford to buy one in this area) for even just a short period of time. It makes me want my own house though, with a garden and a dressing room. I'll be looking forward to that next time around.

Still no good news on the exchange on the Montagu Square flat but no bad news either. Something about being in a rental place where we can (after 6 months) choose to leave at any point is liberating enough to encourage me to relax over that whole issue. It's certainly been a saga over the past 2 years, but I feel closer and a tiny bit more equanimous.

I did my French lesson with Sabine this morning though, in the square next to Montagu Square, and was reassured of the value of a garden square. It was cool and tranquil in what is otherwise a bustling baking metropolis. We could almost have been lounging in a French provincial garden. Had it not been for my apalling language!

Back to the unpacking then, I suppose. It's a daunting task but this place will be so much better when it's done.